


Alana Marner

by bbruins40



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-02-11 16:04:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12938802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbruins40/pseuds/bbruins40
Summary: The adventures of Matt, Mitch and their newly adopted daughter, Alana.





	1. Meet The Team

Nobody in the Leafs locker room knew what to expect when Mitch and Matt were called out of the room right after their game. They all assumed it was some sort of couple thing and went on untying their skates and removing their equipment. When Mitch returned without Matt 15 minutes later, timidly peering in through the door, most of the guys were already showered and getting dressed. Mitch cleared his throat in the door way and waited for the room to quiet down before speaking.

"So I uh have someone I want you guys to meet." Everyone watches as Mitch moves further into the room, revealing a small girl with brown hair and bright blue eyes. Her eyes are puffy and her cheeks are still wet from crying. "This is Alana, my daughter." Heads everywhere snap to attention, Mitch can feel his heart clenching in his chest.

Fresh tears spring to Alana's eyes when she realizes everyone is staring at her. She lets out a small whimper and reaches up for her father, silently asking him to pick her up. Mitch, still sweaty from the game, crouches down beside her and quietly whispers something in her ear. She immediately throws her arms around his neck, and tries wrap her legs around his torso, trying to get him to pick her up.

"Alana, c'mon." Mitch looks around the room desperately and something flashes over his face when his eyes land on Morgan. "Do you want to meet uncle Mo?"

Morgan looks panicked at the sound of his name and visibly swallows around the lump in his throat. Everyone in the room is looking between the two, still digesting the information in front of them. Mo shoots a few of them dirty looks and they immediately go back to what they were doing before Mitch's interruption.

"Remember what I told you about uncle Mo?" Mitch is rubbing Alana's back and using a soft voice to calm her down. "Hmm Alana? Do you remember what I said?"

Alana pulls away from him and in the quietest voice Morgan has ever heard, she gives Mitch an answer. "He has no teeth." Her small hands rub at her face to wipe away the tears and Mitch beams down at her.

"Yeah. He has no teeth and he looks funny." Mo wants to chirp him back, but his comment dies in his throat when he hears Alana's laugh. She shyly lifts her gaze to look around the room and blushes when she realizes people are still looking at her. "Let's go meet him, okay?" Mitch tries to stand, but Alana's grip doesn't loosen from around his neck. Mitch sighs, but stands up and places his daughter on his hip before walking over to Mo.

Mitch can feel eyes on his back as he walks over to his teammate but all he can think is _I need to shower, I smell like sweat, Alana is going to smell like sweat, she'll need a bath when we get home, what's taking Matt so long?_ When he reaches Mo he sits Alana down beside the older man and crouches down in front of her.

"Okay Lana, I need you to stay here while I go shower." Her blue eyes fill with tears and she's about to open her mouth in protest when Mo gets her attention.

"I like your shirt Alana. Are those ponies?" She sceptically looks between her father and the stranger beside her before slowly nodding her head. "That's cool!" Morgan continues. "Do you have a favourite?"

"Pinkie pie." Morgan has to lean in to hear her, but he counts it as a victory and gives Mitch a small nod, dismissing him to the shower.

***

Mitch takes the fastest shower of his life, just long enough to rinse the sweat from his skin and wash his hair. He returns five minutes later, hair still dripping and dressed in his suit. Matt is there now, dressed in his suit even though he didn't shower. He's talking to Auston and Bozak while keeping a careful eye on Alana who is still sheepishly talking to Mo.

"... for two months, she's still getting use to everything." Mitch knows what Matt is talking about even though he missed the beginning part of the conversation. Alana is still new to their family, having only been officially adopted two months ago. But it had taken months of fostering and paperwork before that to make sure Alana was comfortable with Matt and Mitch.

Auston gives Mitch a tight smile when he approaches but Bozak excitedly punches him in the shoulder and yells out his congratulations.

"That's awesome man! We'll have to set up a play date or something."

"Bozy your kid is 2." Mitch laughs at Auston's comment and reaches for his phone when he asks for pictures.

Matt hears a familiar whine and looks toward Alana. Her cheeks are turning a shade of red that indicate a melt down is about to happen and Mo is looking frantic as he tries to calm her down. Mitch is still scrolling through photos, so Matt takes a step away from the group and moves towards his daughter.

"Matt!" Morgan looks at his teammate with panic in his eyes but Matt just shrugs him off.

"I think it's past someone's bedtime."


	2. Chapter 2

Matt is carrying his daughter towards Mitch's car, trailing the younger man who is pressing the unlock button and lifting their hockey bags into the trunk. Alana's head is placed on Matts shoulder and she whines as the cold wind bites at her sensitive cheeks.

"Where's your toque?" Matt removes his hand from Alana's back to open the door to the back seat of Mitch's Range Rover and he carefully places the four year old into her car seat. Alana shrugs her shoulders and starts doing up the straps of her car seat. When she's finished, she looks up to Matt with a questioning gaze and he dutifully goes through the task of checking each strap to make sure it's done up correctly. "Looks good, Peach."

Alana doesn't say anything in response, just reaches for Samson, the stuffed frog Mitch is holding in the drivers seat. Matt smiles softly at her before making his way to the passenger seat and preparing for the drive home.   
***  
By the time Mitch is pulling into his garage, Alana has fallen asleep. Her thumb has found its way into her mouth (a bad habit that Matt and Mitch are desperately trying to break) and her frog is tightly clutched to her chest with her other hand.

Matt and Mitch go through the routine of unbuckling Alana (Matt) and grabbing the baby bag (Mitch) before heading into their home through the connecting garage door.

"She needs a bath." Mitch says it without heat though. It's late and Alana is already asleep, there's no need to wake her up. Matt understands that and gives a hum in return, making his way carefully up the stairs as to not disrupt Alana.

He changes her quickly and by the time he's placing her into bed Mitch has made his way upstairs and into her room. They each give her a good nice kiss on the forehead and exit the room, making sure to leave the door slightly ajar in case she gets up during the night.

20 minutes later, after Matt has showered and both men are comfortable in bed, Mitch lets out a heavy sigh.

"Should we talk about it?" His back is pressed to Matt's front but Matt knows there's a frown present on his face.

"Okay," Marty offers. He nuzzles his nose into Mitch's neck to comfort him, Matt will never admit it but the smell of Mitch calms him down.

"She had a panic attack." Matt knows that, but he still feels his heart clench at the words. "We should probably call her therapist." And that just, that hurts Matt more than he ever thought possible. When their adoption worker had suggested therapy for Alana, Matt had thought she was crazy, what four year old needs therapy? But he'd still taken the phone numbers and recommendations with a smile and kept them on hand par Mitch's request.

It turns out that Alana was quieter than they'd expected. Sure she'd been timid upon meeting them but they both figured it would blow over as she got more comfortable with them. But after 2 weeks had passed and the only communication they'd established was Alana nodding or shaking her head, they'd decided to give a therapist a try.

It took a few sessions for her to really start talking, starting with 'good mornings' and 'good nights' to where she is now, still quiet and shy but openly talking about her interests if comfortable with the person she's with.

They thought the therapy was working, bringing her further out of her shell and it was, until the hockey season started. At first Alana seemed fine with the change, growing attached to her baby sitter, Kennedy, but after a game where Mitch was checked into the boards Alana had worried herself into a panic attack.

Kennedy, bless her soul, was able to get her calmed down and in bed before Matt and Mitch returned home. After she's told them what happened and left to go home, Mitch had cried in Matt's arms for twenty minutes before begrudgingly following Matt upstairs and into bed.

Now, 3 weeks later, Matt had gotten into a scrum with one of The Canadiens, but unlike last time, Alana had been at the arena to watch her first game in person. Kennedy was unable to calm her down this time and immediately sent for Matt and Mitch after their game.

They were able to calm her down easy enough, but they would need to talk to Alana's therapist about what happened tonight.

"Tomorrow," Matt says tightening his arms around his boyfriend and closing his eyes. "We can talk about it tomorrow."

Mitch hums at that and mumbles out something that sounds like 'I love you', but Matt is already slipping into sleep before he can respond.   
***  
Mitch wakes up to the sound of quiet footsteps in the hallway. Matt is still asleep behind him, arm thrown heavily across his waist. Mitch hears the footsteps growing louder, hesitating outside the bedroom door. Matt and Mitch had made it very clear that if a door was closed you were to knock before entering, it had saved them countless awkward walk ins while they were using the bathroom.

Mitch smiles when he sees a mess of brown hair peak around the door and hesitate before taking a step forward. He shifts on the bed to get a better view, causing Alana to jump and clutch Samson close to her chest.

"Hey, good morning." Mitch gives her a sleepy smile and gently scoots back to make room for Alana to sit if she wants. Matt stirs behind him, mumbling in his sleep but remains asleep, even as Alana crawls up to sit criss cross apple sauce in front of Mitch.

"G'morning." It's quiet, and mostly whispered into the fur of her frog, but Mitch still gives her a wide smile and reaches out to tame her wild locks.

"Hungry?" Mitch gets a small nod in response. He easily slips out from under Matt's arm and does an exaggerated stretch that earns a laugh from Alana. He wiggles his eyebrows and reaches out a hand to help Alana off the bed. She gladly accepts the offer and doesn't let go of his hand until they reach the stairs.

Alana was small for her age, and Mitch had been worried about her tumbling down the stairs when she's first moved in with them. So Matt had taken it upon himself to teach her how to but scoot down the steps.

That's what she does now, letting go of Mitch's hand to sit down on her but and lower herself down the stairs. Mitch waits for her at the bottom and follows her into the kitchen where she hastily climbs on a bar stool at the kitchen island.

"Cereal?" Mitch asks opening a few cupboards.

"Puffs, please." Mitch knows that of course. He also knows that she likes the green bowl with turtles on it and her favourite sippy cup is decorated with blue fairies.

He fills his bowl with Cheerios, his daughters bowl with Cocoa Puffs and brings out a fruit salad for them to share.

They sit side by side at the kitchen island, Mitch smiling to himself when Alana reaches for some fruit without being prompted, and eat their breakfast in a comfortable silence.

Mitch is finishing the last of his Cheerios when he hears footsteps from upstairs. Alana is too focused on chasing her cereal with her spoon to notice the noises, and she only looks up from her bowl when Matt appears a few minutes later.

"Good morning sleepyhead." Matt rolls his eyes but otherwise ignores his boyfriend and instead kisses Alana on the top of her head.

"Morning, Peach."

Alana blushes slightly but still mumbles out a 'morning, Matty' so Matt counts that as a win. He reaches for a piece of watermelon, popping it in his mouth before bending down to kiss his boyfriend.

"How'd you sleep, sweetheart?" Matt is moving around the kitchen, getting his own bowl and boring healthy cereal that Mitch hates, trying to act nonchalant about the previous night.

Alana plays with the fur of her frog and shrugs her shoulders. "Alright. Can I have some juice?" Matt purses his lips and looks at Mitch, the pair sharing a silent conversation before Matt reaches for her sippy cup.

"Of course, Peach. Apple or Orange?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Thanks for reading!  
> 2\. This fic does not have a structured plot, so if there is something you'd like to see in this fic, feel free to let me know!  
> 3\. If there are any errors, please let me know.


End file.
